Overview

Each week we will read and watch content about cities, and convene as a group to discuss the ideas we found interesting. During week five we'll begin discussing ideas for essays on the future of cities. During weeks seven and eight, we'll workshop each other's essays, and at the end of week eight, we'll publish our essays on a Future of Cities webpage (and our own blogs).

Readings and Videos:

Week 1 — What are Cities?

• Order Without Design (Bertaud), Chapter II
• How Skyscrapers Can Save the City (Glaeser)
• The surprising math of cities and corporations (West)

Week 2 — Motivations for New Cities I

• The Education of a Libertarian (Thiel)
• Silicon Valley's Ultimate Exit (Srinivasan)
• A Jewish State, Chapter I (Herzl)
• The Black Paper (Musokotwane)

Week 3 — Motivations for New Cities II

• Why the World Needs Charter Cities (Romer)
• The Expansion of England, course II, lectures I-VII (Seeley)

Week 4 — The Geopolitics of New Cities